to help us to understand and deconstruct capitalism in order to create a sustainable and peaceful social system.

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, August 26, 2016

Trump vs. Hillary: A Summation

In this article Roberts reflects the dilemma faced by most Americans in the upcoming election in November. Although he exhibits a great deal of confusion over what to do, he ultimately follows the old proverb: "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". He also ends up blaming the American people for allowing this to happen.My position on this question is, as I have stated many times, that only a revolutionary movement can counter the increasing rightward trend toward fascism and possibly prevent a nuclear war. Because I always try to face the reality such as the facts that there is no viable revolutionary movement in the US and that voting is irrelevant, I am not very hopeful

Suppose Trump were elected as Roberts prefers. This would only be a minor hindrance in the rightward political trajectory. Trump would be assassinated and replaced with a more compliant figurehead president. Suppose the scenario that I described in a recent post was realized: that the deep state would suspend the election, or refuse to accept the outcome of the election, and appoint an executive to occupy the White House--nothing would change. Or suppose that Hillary was elected, as I think is the most likely outcome: the deep state would directly proceed with its imperialist and neoliberal policies abroad and privatization policies here at home. Possibly the best we can hope for is that the directors of the deep state would finally lose their nerve after suffering many defeats in their efforts to counter the growing power of their combined opposition represented by Russia, China, and other countries, and decide to pursue a policy of peaceful coexistence.

The only real, solid hope I see for this country and the world is that a revolutionary movement could develop in the aftermath of the election in time to make a difference. This is a slim hope.